AVENGERS: ENDGAME

Somewhat to my surprise, with this film Marvel manages to deliver a very satisfying climax to the whole "Infinity Saga". 

The most unexpected thing to me, and it goes a long way to explaining my enjoyment, is that until the climactic battle-to-end-all-battles there are virtually no CGI action sequences. 

Instead we get an absorbing story as first the surviving superheroes try to come to terms with their defeat at the hands (or should that be fingers?) of Thanos, and the ensuing deaths of half the universe's population.  

There emerges an opportunity to reverse all of that, involving time travel, provided Iron Man can be persuaded to leave his life of domestic bliss.  He can, and off our heroes go back in time, on separate missions to retrieve the Stones. 

There are some amusing sideswipes at 'Back to the Future' and the idea that history can simply be rewritten.  Instead we get a nice scene between Bruce Banner and the Ancient One which neatly sets out all the timey-wimey stuff about alternative time streams.

Intercutting between the missions is all very entertaining, especially since it reacquaints us with scenes and characters from previous films.  The only downer in this section of the film is that in Vormir yet again someone has to be sacrificed (as in the previous film) and this time it is Black Widow who ends up dying.  Why not Hawkeye?  How on earth does such a redundant character keep surviving?

Then just when everything seems to be going so well the film steps up another gear and there is a terrific series of events involving a version of Thanos from the past coming to the present-day to seemingly snatch victory from the Avengers.   There's some great stuff here involving different versions of Nebula and Gamora (past and present-day).

This leads up to that final battle which involves all manner of mayhem before Iron Man sacrifices himself in order to defeat Thanos once and for all.

To conclude matters we move to Iron Man's funeral, providing an opportunity to wrap up some loose ends satisfactorily, especially those involving Captain America.

RATING: ✓ If You've Nothing Better To Do












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